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Colorado tax incentives

I have been thinking about purchasing a Prius. but I live in CA, where there's no state tax incentives. but I have a relative in Colorado. is it best to get it there? what are the most incentives? and how?

I have some starting points:

1. co-own it with the relative, or,
2. he buys it for me.

is the tax credit transferable especially for #2 above?

I figure that either way it will have to be registered and used in CO for some time before I can have it. registration there is required to claim the credit. and if I bring the car into CA too soon, there's also a hefty excise tax. or is that abolished? what's the registration fee in CO?

if the friend also proves he sold a much older car that the Prius "displaces", the credit is more (100% instead of 75% earlier). is that before or after the prius purchase? does it matter if both transactions are done in the same year?

Colorado tax incentives

I can't anwer all your questions, but I'm "guessing" you're pretty much out of luck. The Colorado credit is for Colorado tax payers only (the credit is for the State Income Tax return). Your friend could buy the car and get the credit on their tax return. If he/she then sold it to you, I suppose you could have a private, confidential agreement to lower the cost of the car (when he/she turns around and sells it to you). But generally speaking I believe you have to be a colorado tax payer. I have read the section on selling a non-hybrid car (over 10 years old, to someone outside the state of colorado). It appears 1) the car you're selliing has to be registered in the State of Colorado, and 2) you the seller have to be a colorado income tax payer/resident. There is a good link to the Colorado law in the incentives section of this web site (go to incentives, then click on "local incentives" and scroll down to Colorado and look for the link).

Colorado tax incentives

thanks for the info. yeah, I read all that text as well before the post. but it still doesn't tell me all the details. I figure someone on this board come from CO and has in the past gone thru some experience there. their incentives have been there for a few years...

my guess is that the tax incentives is not transferable, unlike some states. and they make it a case to have you register the (old displaced, or the hybrid) cars there. and for the old car that you displace, it'd be also one used in their state. but say I (or friend) transfer there this year, with the old gasoline car, without registering that it can be sold, right? does that count as a "displaced" old car when during this year a Prius is bought?

ah, it has to be sold out of state, or in the junk yard, or possibly dontated to a charity outside of state. I guess it's hard to sell an old car with an out of state license, to out of state. even if that were successful, CO may treat that as a car never entered CO, so I can't get their 25% extra credit unless I register the old car before get rid of it. so I may have to register it there, use it for a short time, then get rid of it out of the state or junk yard or charity. but that goes against CO's intentions...

you see, the old car is worthless if I sell it. the 25% extra incentives are a lot more than what it's worth. so maybe I should "give" it to my friend so he can maximize "his" CO credits. whether he sells it out of state, junk it or donate it is up to him.

and I bet CO has strict emission requirements to prevent people from doing things like this (bringing in old junk cars in). after all they encourage the hybrids and discourage the old gasoline types. so I probably can't even pass some emission tests like smog, in order to register it in CO. so that old car will never end up in CO legally. and so I can never claim the full credits.

but if you live in CO and have an old car that has the registration, but can't pass emissions now, it's ok. get rid of it and get that 25% extra credit.

just found out that CO has some sales tax structyre with some zoning thing. Fort Collins has something like 6.7% total tax
State of Colorado 2.9 %
Larimer County .8 %
City of Fort Collins 3.0 %
Total Sales Tax 6.7 %
Denver is even higher.
but it's still lower than southern CA...

Colorado tax incentives

How did you know I live in Fort Collins? (well, just outside in a "suburb", but I'm guessing you had that because your friend lives here). You've got the sales tax thing right. It's complicated and varies from place to place. How old is your junker? The emmissions thing takes the year of the car into account (a 1985 car does not have as stringent emmission requirements as a 2005 car). Another thing about emmissions in Colorado, i believe it now depends on where you live. My understanding (you would need to verify this) is that Metro Denver has one standard, other front range areas (Ft. Collins) has another, and low population areas (such as the west slope) has another.